Police allege human trafficking at Natick spa

Wednesday

Jan 29, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 29, 2014 at 1:04 PM

By Norman MillerDaily News Staff

Chinese women, lured to Natick with a promise of a good job at a day spa, were instead held against their will to serve in the sex trade and even forced to pay to live as virtual prisoners.The women were forced to live at the Oasis Spa at 10 Cochituate St., ordered to perform sexual acts on men and were charged to sleep on massage tables in what became their unwanted homes, prosecutor Emily Walsh alleged in Framingham District Court on Tuesday.Natick Police arrested two women, Shixin Zhang, 45, of Fresh Meadows, N.Y., and Li Zhou, 39, who lives at the spa, on Monday at 5:12 p.m. after an investigation, Walsh said.Natick Police recently received a complaint from a former spa employee. She told police she had answered an advertisement in a Chinese language newspaper to work at the Oasis Spa. She was promised a job where she would be doing facials and nails, Walsh said.However, when she arrived at the spa, she quickly learned that wasn’t true."She was told she was not allowed to leave," said Walsh. "She was only given bread and potatoes to eat."Instead of doing normal spa work, the woman was ordered to perform massages and perform "happy endings," where she masturbated men who came into the massage parlor. The women were paid $20 per man, while the rest of the money went to the massage parlor, the prosecutor said.The women "were then charged $10 a night to sleep on the massage tables," Walsh said.On Monday, an undercover Natick Police officer went into the massage parlor. After being offered to have a sexual act performed on him by Zhou, which was witnessed by Zhang, both women were arrested.Zhang, whose name is listed as the licensee in charge of the massage parlor, is charged with deriving support from sexual servitude. Zhou is only charged with sexual conduct for a fee.Both women were scheduled to be arraigned in Framingham District Court on Tuesday, but no Mandarin language interpreter was available. Walsh said she planned to ask for $100,000 bail for Zhang."There were people being forced to live there against their will," said Walsh. "This is a very serious case."Zhou’s lawyer, Michael Perpall, argued against having an arraignment because Zhou did not speak English. He said he could not speak to her and she could not understand anything that was going on.Judge Martine Carroll released Zhou without bail but ordered Zhang held without bail until today to be arraigned with the assistance of an interpreter.Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@wickedlocal.com. For up-to-date crime news, follow Norman Miller on Twitter @Norman_MillerMW.